Maid of Honour

by Melinda Hammond

When her mother is incapacitated, Lucilla Chambers reluctantly agrees to act as chaperone to her sister, the beautiful young widow, Lady Lairne. Her attempts to protect her sister bring Lucilla into conflict with the notorious Dominic Vanderley and soon she finds that it is her own honour that is threatened. But escaping to her childhood home does not solve her problems… Regency Romance by Melinda Hammond; originally published by Robert Hale (London)

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

I write under the names of Melinda Hammond and Sarah Mallory.

I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember - many of them born of frustration when I was stuck in a classroom longing to be rescued! I love anything romantic, whether it is a grand opera or a beautiful painting. It doesn't necessarily have to be happy, as long as it is inspiring.

I was born in Bristol and grew up on Barton Hill, an area of small terraced houses built in the nineteenth century between the mills and the railway. I think my love of adventure stories is due to the fact that I grew up with three older brothers and lived in a street full of boys! My love of history and the English language was fostered at grammar school, where I soon discovered the delights of Georgian and Regency fiction, first of all with the works of Jane Austen and then Georgette Heyer.

I left school at sixteen to work in companies as varied as stockbrokers, marine engineers, biscuit manufacturers and even a quarrying company, but I never lost my love of history, and when I wasn't reading and researching the Georgian and Regency period I was writing stories about it.

When I was at home with my first child, I decided to try my hand at writing seriously, and my first historical novel, Fortune's Lady, was published by Robert Hale in 1980. I have now published more than twenty novels, over a dozen of them as Melinda Hammond, winning the Reviewers Choice award in 2005 from Singletitles.com for Dance for a Diamond and the Historical Novel Society's Editors Choice in 2006 for Gentlemen in Question. Writing as Sarah Mallory for Harlequin Mills & Boon, The Earl's Runaway Bride won a coveted CataNetwork Reviewers Choice award for 2010 and the RNA's RoNA Rose Award in 2012 and 2013.

For many years I lived in an old farmhouse on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire, literally a stone's throw from open moorland. Now I live by the sea in the wild Highlands of Scotland. I love walking to think up my latest plot, or just to clear my head ready for another session of writing.

Reviews

[Lyuda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bland, uninspiring traditional regency with a big misunderstanding trope. Add to this a significant age difference between H and h and his constant reference to her as a child and I was ready to be done with this book at 40%.

[H2bourne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well paced and satisfying story. The ending was not too abrupt. There were a few twists to the story which made it engrossing although it was not too difficult to figure that everything would work out in the end. Lucilla blossoms from her innocence to maturity but never becomes hardened despite her experiences. Her older sister, Charlotte, is a disagreeable, selfish, and spoilt beauty but eventually her sisterly loves shines through once her life is settled to her satisfaction. The realistic look at war under Napoleon was well done. The scenes described were never graphic but gave a glimpse of the horrors many had to endure and yet it did not gloss over the harsh realities. The development of the characters were well done. I look forward to exploring more titles by this author.

[Rachel Knowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another easy-to-read Regency romance by Melinda Hammond. Lucille Chambers goes in her mother's stead to play chaperon to her beautiful widowed sister, Charlotte, Lady Lairne. I thought this scenario was a bit unlikely, but it makes the story work, so I let this go. I have often seen characters like Lucy and Dominic Vanderley (the love interest), but it is more unusual to come across such a perfectly vile character as the self-obsessed Charlotte. The final section of the book is set in Brussels during the Battle of Waterloo.